I’ve known Loretta Lombardi since we were
both kids. We both grew up in South Philadelphia’s St. Monica Parish and we are
both Italian, which means that we love to cook good food. Loretta has published
a cookbook for lovers. What a great gift for Valentine’s Day!
While Loretta prepared a delightful lunch for
us, we chatted about her book and why she feels eating the right foods will not
only fix what ails us, but put more oomph in our sex lives.
Marie Gilbert: “Loretta, before we talk about the book,
tell us about your teaching career.”
Loretta Lombardi: “I’ve taught school for forty-one years and one of the
extracurricular activities close to my heart while teaching parochial school in
South Philadelphia was the drama club for the seventh and eighth graders. We
would have competitions with other catholic grammar schools for a one act
comedy. We had all year to practice our choice of play then perform at Bishop
Newman High School. Lo and behold, with a lot of hard work and a lot of fun
times, we put on a lot of good plays and, two of the four years that we did the
competition, we got first place trophies. It was a worthwhile part of my life
and they were like my own children.”
Marie Gilbert: “After retiring from teaching, how did you
get involved in cooking and what prompted you to write the I’m Hot Your Hot
cookbook?”
Loretta Lombardi: “A few years ago, a friend of mine was over for a nice
lunch topped off with a couple of glasses of wine, and she said to me, “You
know, you’re a really good cook. Why don’t you sit down and write a cookbook?”
I never
ever thought of myself writing a book, but soon after, we had a horrible
snowstorm in November of 2009 and plus I had an accident. I fell and hurt my
foot and so I was left with the options of sitting and doing nothing, or doing
something constructive. The seed was planted and I started writing poetry. I’m
not a poet per say, but on occasion I might write some poems in my journal
which led to me writing some food poetry, but, I was thinking what am I going
to do with this?
I’ve only
been learning about whole foods for six years, so I wasn’t the most experienced
in the business of writing. But, I had enough knowledge and I was willing to do
the research. I picked out some of my recipes, looked at some others and modified
a few things that I would like to make. I got started and tested a few and if
they tasted good to me, I’d invite friends to taste a recipe or two and if they
liked it, I’d include it in the book and that’s how I got started.
I wanted
this book to be for lovers because everybody is a lover not only of food, but
of each other. This book is especially for couples so they can take the time to
express their affection through food and know how good it tastes and how
satisfying it is. Food is just a stepping stone to sensuality. It is sensual in
itself and promotes sensuality in a relationship.”
Marie Gilbert: “Because they are healthy?”
Loretta Lombardi: “Because they are healthy. So, that’s how the idea
started to work. I decided to write some love quotes. I wanted the love quotes
to come from me and I wrote some one and two liners that I would like say to
someone in my circle of intimate partners. I continued writing some kitchen and
bedroom poetry and then I began with the recipes. I wanted to create a cookbook that contained simple but delicious recipes that were easy to make with a recipe for each
month.”
Marie Gilbert: “One for each month?” as she flicked through
the pages.
Loretta Lombardi: “Yes, for lovers, whoever they are, in an intimate
relationship to set aside one day a month and have a book that was already
planned out. The recipes are simple, nutritious, and energetic and have
aphrodisiac qualities. I set the atmosphere and ambiance on how to set the
table and what wines and beers to serve with what foods; they (the couple) could
take it from there.
At the
very end I got in touch with Christina Pirello, author of macrobiotic cookbooks
and star of the television series “Christina Cooks”. This came about because I
was on a Holistic Cruise...”
Marie Gilbert: “Was
this a special cruise?”
Loretta Lombardi: “Yes, one that I’ve been taking for many years. “Holiday
at Sea” takes us to the Caribbean Islands, east or west, every year. They close
off half the ship and have one dining area for people who just eat macrobiotics
like vegans and vegetarians, and the other half of the ship eats regular food.
On this
trip, one of the chiefs was Christina who I’ve seen several times on the
cruises or conferences and she’s even been at the Essene Café at 719 S. 4th Street in
Philadelphia doing monthly workshops back in the day. There was a talent show
for all the macrobiotic and vegan people the night before our last day of the
cruise and I volunteered to read a couple of poems from my book saying these
poems were from my holistic cookbook that contained love and sensual poetry.
There must have been around seven hundred people there and they were applauding
and one man shouted out that he wanted to be the first to buy my book.”
Marie Gilbert: “But, you’re book wasn’t out at that time?”
Loretta Lombardi: “No, it wasn’t, I was just feeling out the crowd with my
poems.”
Marie Gilbert: “You were testing out the water.”
Loretta Lombardi: “Yes, testing out the water, putting my book out there
and planting the seed. The next day, Julia Ferre, who has a foundation out
in California with her husband and also writes the magazine “Macrobiotics
Today” said she wanted to publish my poems, but I wanted to hold off until my
book was published and then release the poetry for her magazine.
That
night at the farewell party on the ship my friends called over Christina
Pirello’s husband and I introduced myself. He had written a book called “Bones”
on how to reverse osteoporosis. He and Christine had sent out flyers looking
for volunteers for an educational program. I was speaking to Mr. Pirello about
my helping at the school when Christian walked up to us and asked if she could
read my manuscript; we met later and I gave her my hardcopy. The next time we met up, Christine
told me that she liked the way I had set up the book with the poetry and
recipes, but wanted to know how I was going to explain to Joe Blow from South
Philadelphia that this was a book that he would like to read.”
Marie Gilbert: “So, what did you say?”
Loretta Lombardi: “Well, I guess I have to find a way to motivate him on
the idea that whole foods are not only good for his body, but it would make him
more sexually active because everything would be in working order, so to speak.”
I decided
on adding headers to each recipe which not only explained the nutrition
in my recipes but the energetics using a combination of history and folklore
and the food’s aphrodisiac qualities with each recipe ending with how I felt
the couple would feel after eating one of the meals. After four years, I
finally got this book together. I didn’t use photographs because I wanted
people to zone in on the headings to motivate them to cook the recipes. It
gives them their own visual of what the food is about.”
Marie Gilbert: “I like that idea. So, you went from
teaching to writing this cookbook. You’re certified in macrobiotics?”
Loretta Lombardi: “Yes, I started macrobiotics in 2003 and did an intensive
workshop with Denny Waxman, who is head counselor in macrobiotics, and his wife
Susan Waxman, head chief of the Strengthening Health Institute, SHI.
I was so
enamored with the philosophy of the workshop and it was an incentive for me to
take better care of myself and encourage others to heal themselves. I’ve always
wanted to help my family and friends heal themselves. People get to a certain
age and take their bodies for granted thinking their body is supposed to fall
apart, but according to this philosophy; that is not necessarily so. You can
reenergize your cells because number one, your cells have a memory and secondly
food is healing. Hippocrates, the father of medicine said, “Let food be thy
medicine.”
The
ancients used herbs and food to heal throughout history and people would die of
natural death and not from all these crazy diseases that we have today. They
had a diet that consisted of grains, vegetables, beans, seeds, nuts and fruits;
this was their mainstay and it wasn’t until much later in history that meat
became so popular especially after World War One with the promotion of the Beef
Industry, which has come to the ruination of our Western Civilization
especially the United States of America.”
Marie Gilbert: “So, you feel with this diet, it would
reverse certain diseases?”
Loretta Lombardi: “I think it would promote healing and whatever ailment
the reader would have, it would give the reader the incentive to do research on
their particular ailment, if they are diabetic, or have heart disease or
cancer. If they are terminal and in the later stages of their disease than I
would recommend them getting a top nutritionist like Denny Waxman from
Philadelphia, who has been doing this for over forty years. I’ve seen with my
own eyes, people come back their illnesses reversed.
Marie Gilbert: “Would you consider meeting with people to
help them with their diets?”
Loretta Lombardi: “Yes, I do private counseling and one on one cooking classes in my home; I also do lectures for groups who are interested. My book is about the
energetics of food and what part of the body the food will help with vitamins,
minerals; the way food was used back in the days of old in different countries.
With
specific ailments, there is one very good book called, “The Macrobiotic Path to
Total Health" by Michio Kushi. This is the bible of health books. This book
explains the cause of the illness according to Chinese medicine, it tells you
the symptoms and then how to reverse certain conditions using certain foods and
drinks. Another book which I recommend is “The Complete Guide to Natural
Healing” by Tom Monte.”
Marie Gilbert: You’ve made me a delicious lunch today.
Would you like to tell my readers what you prepared for us?”
Loretta Lombardi: “We’ll start with the soup, which was pureed butternut
squash, parsnip, carrot, miso and chopped cilantro on top. For the beans, I
used pinto beans cooked in boiling water and as the beans came to a closing, I
added mustard and a postage size amount of kombu which is a seaweed and helps
you to better digest beans and not worry about the gaseous results.
Then we
have a Chinese vegetable, which is like a mustard green, sautéed in olive oil
and added delicious cut up apples and added an ounce of pumpkin ale. We had French couscous,
and for dessert, we had sweet potato, parsnip and Japanese potato all cut in
three quarter of an inch slices that are steamed and drizzled with a light
cover of rice syrup topped with nuts.”
Marie Gilbert: “I was surprised that you used the rice syrup
instead of honey.”
Loretta Lombardi: “Honey is a simple sugar and in whole foods we lean
towards complex carbohydrates and two very good sweeteners used in macrobiotics
is rice syrup and barley malt.
Marie Gilbert: “Loretta, will we be seeing more cookbooks
from you?”
Loretta Lombardi: “I’m restudying the five elements of nature concerning
food and there are certain foods that would help, for example, in Chinese
medicine if you had back problem you find a food that pertains to the water
element. That element has foods that strengthen the kidneys. The metal element
that is also on that element wheel has foods that strengthen the kidney.
I’m
studying this more and more every day because these elements would also help
with emotional problems. If you’re exhibiting erratic behavior or you’re not
able to focus; there are foods that could help in this area as well.
I would
like to use the five element chart to address pre-teens and teenagers through
rap music or video to teach these children the right way to eat. The school
lunches for the most part are not nutritious and they are making the kids sick;
they’re lethargic, sleeping in class.”
Marie Gilbert: “Thank you so much Loretta for
being a guest on my blog and for this lovely and healthy lunch. For all my
readers, Loretta’s book can be found on Amazon and if you order it now, you’ll
have it in time for Valentine’s Day. Bon appetite!”
You can find Loretta's book here. Below are the tentative dates for her book launch.
Tentative Book Launch/Lecture in March of 2014 at
Essene Café 719 S. 4th Street, Philadelphia, Pa 215-922-1146
Book Launch /Lecture on July 17, 2014 at 7p.m. at
Daily Grind Café 261 Old York Road, Jenkintown Pa. 267-287-8243
